New
York and London: New York University Press (2007) ISBN:
978-0814731826 (paperback), pp. 432

Particip@tions Volume 5, Issue 2 (November 2008)

A
Review by Rebecca Williams

Fandom: Identities
and Communities in a Mediated World is an edited
collection of essays on the links between fandom, community, and
identity within modern mediated society. Containing twenty-six
essays and spanning over 400 pages, the book offers a broad
contribution to what it identifies as the ‘third wave’ of fan
studies. Within this context, the collection aims to contribute to
the field by addressing fandom’s’ growing cultural currency and the
increased theoretical and conceptual diversity of fan studies. It
also seeks to rationalise the continued academic investigation of
fans, arguing that fan studies enables us to understand how we
relate to those around us and to the media texts which increasingly
have an impact in our everyday lives. It is this emphasis on the
everyday which the collection seeks to accentuate, along with its
insistence that fandom is linked to industrial modernity as a
specific form of social and economic organisation. As the editors
outline in the introduction, “studying fan culture allows us to
explore some of the key mechanisms through which we interact with
the mediated world at the heart of our social, political, and
cultural realities and identities” (p. 10).

The collection is
well-structured and follows a logical path through six sections,
beginning with consideration of cultural judgement and the textual
object of fandom which has been neglected in much prior work. The
second section considers fans of high culture before sections three
and four move into the realm of space and place, with the former
examining ideas of media spaces and the latter focusing on the
local, regional and global contexts of fandom. Section five
considers thehistorical, social and technological contexts
of fandom, refuting the notion that fandom is an ahistorical
phenomenon and, finally, section six investigates what Jonathan Gray
(2003) has elsewhere termed ‘anti-fandom’, considering how feelings
of hate, dislike and distaste might intersect with fandom.

There is much to
admire in this extensive and wide-ranging collection. The
introduction offers a critical over-view of the various eras and
phases of fan studies, locating the collection within this history
of prior developments and debates. The book should also be applauded
for attempting to remedy some of the omissions of prior work and to
open up the field of fan studies to a broader range of fan objects,
practices and cultural contexts. For instance, the book’s intention
to move away from more typical fan objects (Trekkers, sports, soap)
towards examining high culture (fans of which have commonly been
seen as aficionados (see Jensen 1992)) is deftly executed through a
section devoted to fans of news programmes (Gray), critical theory
(McKee), Bach and Sherlock Holmes (Pearson) and Chekhov (Tulloch).
Similarly, the collection seeks to de-Westernise fan studies and
consider the international dimension of contemporary fandom by
featuring pieces on the possibility of a global fan studies
(Harrington and Bielby) and three case studies of Asian film fandom.
Contributors also diverge from the perception of fandom as
ahistorical and consider its historical context and fandom as
subject to the specificity of shifting contemporary cultural
practices. This is examined through exploration of topics such as 19th-century
music (Cavicchi), sport and gender (Gosling), gaming (Crawford and
Rutter) and online music (McCourt and Burkart).

All the contributors
demonstrate a commitment to removing fandom from the realm of the
‘other’ who is in opposition to mainstream society and they instead
consider fandom as an integral aspect of everyday life. There is
also a healthy dose of the metacritical in many of the pieces and a
willingness by the theorists to reflect analytically and
self-reflexively on the field and its assumptions, contradictions
and dualisms. The book is also notable for the debt it pays to
previous theories and work on fandom, both the older ‘grand
narratives’ (e.g. in a section which is indebted to Bourdieuian
inspired fan studies work on aesthetics and cultural value) but also
newer developments (e.g. Brooker’s re-evaluation of Roger C. Aden’s
(1999) work on fandom as a form of ‘symbolic pilgrimage’).

Of course no
collection is flawless and the editors themselves acknowledge that
omissions are inevitable. For example there is no specific chapter
devoted to discussion of race (nor, I would add, fandom and
sexuality or age) nor analysis of genres such as comic books,
telenovelas or teen fandoms. Indeed, most readers could identify
their own favourite fan object or theoretical approach which they
would like to see covered. However, given the breadth and depth of
the book it seems churlish to castigate the book for these apparent
absences. Overall, my main point of contention is that some in-depth
consideration of the methodological debates within fan studies would
have been instructive. Also, despite the editors conceding in the
introduction that different types of fandom are accorded varying
levels of cultural value (e.g. sports fans are acceptable, Harry
Potter ‘fanatics’ are ridiculed), I wish to sound a note of caution
regarding the cultural acceptability of certain types of fandom.
Whilst, as the contributors argue, fandom is certainly proliferating
in modern society, the stigma and pathologising of certain types of
fans and fan practices does continue. For instance, Matt Hills
(2007) has recently drawn attention to the derision faced by Michael
Jackson fans who seek to impersonate him or those who display overt
emotivism towards their fan object; a ridicule perpetuated by the
very mass media that are often presumed to have embraced and
co-opted fandom. Although fandom may be expanding to include new
contexts, genres, and activities we must continue to acknowledge
that certain types of fandom remain stigmatised and that not all
types of fan practice are treated equally.

Fandom: Identities
and Communities in a Mediated World is a welcome
addition to the fan studies canon. The broad range of topics covered
means that the book can be negotiated in various ways by readers
with different interests and backgrounds. Ultimately, the collection
does not seek to close down debate around fandom or to provide a
single ‘grand narrative’ of theoretical approaches to fan studies.
Rather, it poses more questions and opens up contestation and
critique. Nowhere is this clearer than in the polemic afterword
provided by Henry Jenkins in which he posits that the proliferation
of fandom within contemporary mediated society may render the term
‘fan’ and, indeed, fan studies meaningless. Whether Jenkins’
conjecture is sustainable is open to argument but his conclusion,
along with the other contributions, will hopefully inspire those
within the field to continue deliberating and researching the
theoretical and conceptual concerns which lie at the heart of fan
studies. In conclusion, this collection should be a key text in the
study of fandom but will appeal equally to those interested in
audiences, identity, and media more broadly.

Dr. Rebecca Williams recently completed her PhD on
fandom and identity in the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural
Studies at Cardiff University. She is currently working on research
into Welsh television audiences at the Cardiff School of Creative
and Cultural Industries within the University of Glamorgan.